Quick Hits About The 'Hounds
- Loyola University Maryland makes its 26th appearance in the NCAA Championships starting on Saturday, May 11 when it hosts the Syracuse University at Ridley Athletic Complex. The Greyhounds are the No. 8 seed in this year's Championships.
- Faceoff is set for 12:00 p.m. on ESPNU
- Dating back to March 23, 2016, Loyola is averaging 12.68 goals over its last 59 games. It has scored less than 10 only eight times in that span.
- Pat Spencer now holds the Loyola and Patriot League career records in both assists (220) and points (360). He set the Loyola assists mark in 2018 and the points record in 2019 against Navy.
- Jacob Stover has 609 career saves, sixth on the NCAA's active leader board. Stover is second in NCAA Division I this year with a .596 saves percentage.
- Pat Spencer has recorded two or more points in all but four of the 66 games to start his collegiate career, and he has 40 multi-goal and 53 multi-assist games. He has scored a point in all 66 outings.
- Chase Scanlan leads all NCAA Division I midfielders with 40 goals.
- Kevin Lindley is second in the NCAA in goals (57) and goals per game (3.80).
Last Time Out
- Loyola took 41 shots, but only 18 were on goal and five found the net Friday night in a 7-5 loss to Army West Point in the Patriot League Semifinals.
- The Black Knights, meanwhile put 31 shots up in the first half, and while they had just 10 in the second half, four of those found the net in the low-scoring game.
- Jacob Stover made 14 saves in goal for the Greyhounds, while A.J. Barretto had 13 for Army West Point.
- Bailey Savio went 11 of 16 on faceoffs, and he tied Stover for game-high honors with five ground balls.
- Brendan Nichtern, who had a goal and two assists, scored the game's first goal 7:36 into the first quarter to stake the Black Knights to a lead, but Loyola responded just under six minutes later as Aidan Olmstead fed Chase Scanlan on the left pipe for an extra-man goal at 1:48 that tied the game at 1-1.
- It was the last time the game would be tied, however, for just 1:41 before Nate Jones converted a Nicholas Garofano assist with seven ticks left in the frame.
- Chase Scanlan had two goals and an assist for Loyola, while Aidan Olmstead registered one of each.
In The Polls
- Loyola is ranked seventh in the USILA Coaches Poll and sixth in the Inside Lacrosse media version.
- Syracuse is ranked 11th in the coaches poll, 8th in the media.
Series History
- Loyola and Syracuse will meet for the 25th time, but the first since 2009, in series history. The Orange lead the all-time series, 19-5, and has won the last two games.
- This will be Syracuse's first appearance at Loyola's Ridley Athletic Complex with the most-recent meeting taking place on March 28, 2009, at Diane Geppi-Aikens Field, a year before Ridley opened.
- Saturday's game will be the third meeting between Loyola and Syracuse in the NCAA Championships, both coming in the quarterfinals. The Orange won 17-12 in a 1999 game in Princeton, New Jersey, and 13-12 in a 1997 in Hempstead, New York.
- In that game, Loyola turned a 7-5 halftime deficit into an 11-8 lead going into the fourth quarter. The Orange, however, used a 15-7 groundball advantage in the frame to outscore the Greyhounds, 6-2, for a 14-13 victory.
- Dan Hardy scored Syracuse's last two goals, the final coming with 87 seconds left in regulation that proved to be the game-winner.
Turn On The Television
- ESPNU will televise the game live, nationally. Anish Shroff will call the play-by-play, while Quint Kessenich handles color analysis.
NCAA Championships History
- Loyola is making its 26th all-time appearance in the NCAA Championships, 24th in Division I history (since 1982). The Greyhounds are 14-24 all-time in the tournament, 14-22 at the Division I level. This is Loyola's seventh trip to the NCAA Championships in the last eight years and 10th in Charley Toomey's 14 seasons as head coach.
- The Greyhounds are 8-9 in first-round games.
- Loyola won its first NCAA Division I Championship, in any sport, in 2012, when they defeated Maryland, 9-3, on Memorial Day. The win completed an 18-1 season for the Greyhounds in which they tied the NCAA Division I record for wins in a season, matching the 18-2 Duke team from 2008. Loyola entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed and defeated Canisius, Denver and Notre Dame en route to the title game.
- Loyola is 2-1 in NCAA games at Ridley Athletic Complex, beating Virginia (2018) and Canisius (2012) while falling to Albany (2014).
- Charley Toomey is 7-8 as a head coach in the NCAA Championships. This season is Toomey's 19th in the NCAA Championships: 10 as a head coach, six as an assistant, three as player.
Postseason Patriot League Awards
- Three Loyola players earned postseason awards from the Patriot League, while six were named to the All-Patriot League Teams.
- Pat Spencer became the first player in Patriot League men's lacrosse history to win four Offensive Player of the Year honors, and he is the fourth player in any Patriot League sport to earn the same award four times.
- Jacob Stover picked up his second Goalkeeper of the Year award in as many years, and Chase Scanlan was named the Rookie of the Year.
- Charley Toomey, who led the Greyhounds to their fourth Patriot League regular-season title in six years, earned the William Lawson Coach of the Year award.
- Scanlan, Spencer and Stover were joined on the All-Patriot League First Team by Ryan Kevin Lindley and Ryan McNulty. Cam Wyers earned All-Patriot League Second Team honors.
- Three Greyhounds – Kevin Lindley, Aidan Olmstead and John Railey – were named to the Academic All-Patriot League Team.
Four Top Fours
- Loyola players rank in the top-four of all three of the major offensive statistical categories in NCAA Division I this season. Kevin Lindley is second with 3.80 goals per game, while Pat Spencer is fourth in both points (6.27) and assists (3.60).
- Jacob Stover is also in the top-four of an NCAA statistical category, checking in second in save percentage (.596).
King Of Points
- Pat Spencer set the Loyola career record for points on March 19, 2019, breaking the mark of 311 set by Gary Hanley from 1978-81. Spencer tied Hanley with an unassisted goal 5:45 before halftime against Navy, and he broke the points record with an assist on a Kevin Lindley transition goal 35 seconds before the break.
Chart Topping
- Spencer now holds both the Patriot League and Loyola records for points (360) and assists (220) and is second all-time at the school in goals (140).
- Spencer has 140 goals through 66 career games, a total ranked second after he passed Pat Lamon (133, 1983-86) in the Lehigh game. Hanley (151) is the school-record-holder in goals. The 2017 and 2018 Tewaaraton Award finalist is first among active NCAA Division I players in assists and points, and he is fourth in goals.
- Against Virginia in the 2018 NCAA First Round game, Spencer moved into the top-10 of NCAA Division I history in assists. Versus Lehigh on April 6, Spencer moved into third in career assists, passing Cornell's Rob Pannell (204, 2009-13) and Brown's Darren Lowe (205, 1989-92). Spencer now stands at 220 assists; Albany's Lyle Thompson (225, 2012-15) is the all-time leader, and North Carolina State/Syracuse's Tim Nelson (221, 1982; 1983-85) is second.
- Versus Army West Point in the regular-season, Spencer passed Duke's Justin Guterding (351, 2015-18) and Matt Danowski (353, 2004-08) and Cornell's Rob Pannell (354, 2009-13) to move into third all-time in points (now with 360). Albany's Connor Fields (364, 2015-18) is second.
Alone At The Top
- Pat Spencer set the Loyola single-season assist and points records during the 2018 NCAA First Round win over Virginia. He assisted on a Kevin Lindley goal in the first two minutes of the second quarter, breaking his own assist record of 55 set last season. His assist on a Lindley goal to start scoring in the second half was his 90th point of the year, breaking the record of 89 set in 1981 by Gary Hanley and matched in 2016 by Spencer. He finished the year with 35 goals, 59 assists and 94 points.
- In last week's Patriot League Semifinal against Army West Point, Spencer tied his own school record with 94 points. This season, he has 40 goals and 54 assists with his assist total coming in third at the school behind his 2018 (59) and 2017 (55) totals.
- Spencer became Loyola's all-time leader in assists (now 220 in 66 career games) during the 2018 Patriot League Championship Game, breaking the mark of 160 set by Hanley in 1981.
- In the 2018 Patriot League Semifinals, Spencer set the Patriot League record for career points (now with 360), passing Bucknell University's Chris Cara (2002-05). Earlier in the 2018 season, he set the Patriot League's all-time assist record.
Veteran In Goal
- Jacob Stover returns for his fourth season as a starter at Loyola, having played 3,307 minutes between the pipes for the Greyhounds. The 2018 Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year and 2019 Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Yearbook Preseason All-American has a career 8.56 goals-against average in 60 games.
- Stover has made saves on 56.3 percent of the shots on goal he has faced and has a 43-14 career record for the Greyhounds.
- He closed the 2018 season with one of the best performances of his career. Stover made a career-best 19 saves against Yale University in the NCAA Quarterfinals while yielding only eight goals to the Bulldogs.
- He has picked up where he left off, making 18 saves in 2019 season-opener against Virginia. He has gone on to post 11 or more saves in every game this season, recording 15 or more seven times. Stover has 229 saves in his last 16 games (14.3 per game).
- Stover's .592 saves percentage is No. 3 in NCAA Division I this year.
Lindley Leading
- Kevin Lindley has been one of the top goal scorers in the nation this season, scoring 57 goals in 15 games, and he is second in NCAA Division I with 3.8 goals per game. He has tallied four or more in all but five of the contests, including eight against Colgate, six at Towson and versus Holy Cross and Georgetown and five versus Virginia and Navy.
- Against Lafayette, Lindley broke the school single-season record for goals with 56 breaking the mark set in 2012 by Eric Lusby of 54. Lindley's 56 came in 14 games where Lusby's 54 were in 19.
- Lindley finished his freshman season in 2018 with 37 goals. He is third on the active career leader with 2.94 goals per game.
Strong Start
- Chase Scanlan is off to a solid start to his Loyola career, scoring 40 goals to go with 14 assists for 54 points in 15 games. He is tied for 26th nationally with 2.67 goals per game, second amongst all NCAA Division I freshmen, and his 40 goals are also most both by a midfielder of any experience. He is also fourth among freshmen with 3.60 points per game.
- Scanlan's 40 goals are the most by a freshman in Loyola history, passing the total of 37 scored by teammates Kevin Lindley (2018) and Pat Spencer (2016). He is one shy of tying the school single-season record for goals (41) by a midfielder set just last season by Jay Drapeau.
- Scanlan was the lone freshman to earn All-Patriot League First Team honors, and he was the Patriot League Rookie of the Year.
Surging Sophomore
- After being hampered by an injury early in the year, Aidan Olmstead has posted 14 goals and 11 assists in the Greyhounds' last six games, bringing his season totals to 21 and 19.
- Last season, Olmstead finished with 19 goals and 21 assists in 17 games.
Record Ground Ball Numbers
- Bailey Savio has a team-high 122 ground balls this year, and with his last pick-up against Army West Point in the regular-season, he set the single-season record for the category, surpassing Peter Haas' 106 from 1998. Savio is the fifth player to post 100-plus in a year, joining Haas, while Bailey's older brother, Graham, who had 103 in 2017, and Dan Kallaugher (2007) and Ryan Radonis (2003) who had 101 ground-ball seasons.
- Savio checks in at 11th nationally with 8.13 groundballs per game, while his 122 are ninth.
Extra, Extra
- Loyola has gone man-down 50 times in 15 games this year, but the Greyhounds have given up just nine extra-man goals. They are killing penalties 80.0 percent of the time, good for second in the nation.
- On the other side, Loyola is scoring 42.3 percent of the time on extra-man, good for a tie for 14th, making the Greyhounds the only team in the NCAA with top-15 rankings in both man-up and man-down.
Top Ten On Both Sides
- Loyola is the lone team in the NCAA that is ranked in both the top-10 of scoring offense (T-6th, 14.00) and scoring defense (9th, 9.80). As a result, the Greyhounds are third in scoring margin (+4.20).
Shot Selection
- Loyola finished the 2018 season with a .351 shooting percentage this season marking just the third time the Greyhounds have shot 30 percent or better in the last 10 seasons (.312 in 2014; .301 in 2017). Loyola's shot percentage led the Patriot League and was sixth in NCAA Division I. Of the players on Loyola's starting attacker and first and second midfields, all nine shot .271 or better, and six of that group were at .325 or higher.
- In the first 14 games of 2019, the Greyhounds have shot .335 overall, ranking sixth in NCAA Division I.
Defense Making A Stand
- Over the last 42 games (10 in 2017, 17 in 2018, 15 in 2019) – beginning with a March 18, 2017 win over the U.S. Naval Academy – Loyola's defense has allowed just 8.4 goals per game. The Greyhounds also have an advantage of 544-639 in turnovers (12.9-15.2) as they have gone 29-10 during the stretch.
- Of its opponents' 639 turnovers in the last 42 games, Loyola has caused 385.
Toomey's Team
- Charley Toomey is in his 14th year as the head coach at Loyola and his 23rd as a member of the Greyhounds' coaching staff. Overall, he is in his 27th year on the Evergreen campus, including his four seasons as a student-athlete from 1986-90.
- Toomey has directed the Greyhounds to 100 wins, an average of 12.6 per season (not including this season) since 2012, and has a 145-68 career record. Early in the 2016 season, Toomey became the second coach in program history to reach and cross the 100-win plateau; he stands second on the program's all-time wins chart behind his college coach, Dave Cottle (181-70, 1983-2001).
- As a head coach, Toomey has coached 38 USILA All-Americans, 77 all-conference selections, 21 conference positional or players or rookies of the year, four Tewaaraton Award finalists and 13 USILA Scholar All-Americans.
- In January 2019, Toomey was named to the coaching staff of the U.S. Men's National Team as an assistant coach. He will serve with Team USA in preparation for, and competition in, the 2022 World Championships in British Columbia. He was also enshrined in the USLacrosse Chesapeake Chapter Hall of Fame in January 2019 for his accomplishments as a player and a coach.
Get To Ten
- Since Charley Toomey became head coach at Loyola in 2006, the Greyhounds have scored 10 or more goals on 132 occasions; Loyola has won 81.1 percent of those games (107-25).
Up Next
- The winner of the Loyola-Syracuse game will head to East Hartford, Connecticut, for a quarterfinal game against Penn State University and either UMBC or Marist College.
